Deltona trucker, son accused of 2003 kidnapping, rape

April 9, 2010|By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

Douglas Steinemer has a long history of drug problems and convictions for petty crimes that have left his family frustrated and brokenhearted.

Now the Deltona man is accused of a violent act that could land him in prison for life. Idaho prosecutors say Steinemer, 26, and his father, trucker Hans Michael Holsopple, 46, kidnapped and raped a woman in 2003. And they say they have DNA evidence to prove their case against Steinemer.

The woman told detectives she met Steinemer, now in a Florida prison, at the entrance to a Walmart in Mountain Home, Idaho, on June 28, 2003. He claimed to be having car trouble and asked for help, said Idaho State Police Lt. Col. Kevin Johnson.

When they reached the woman's car, Steinemer pulled a knife and made her drive to his father's semi, where they bound, gagged and abducted her, Johnson said. Charging documents say Holsopple, known as Michael, raped her while threatening her with a knife. The attack went on for hours, Deputy Prosecutor Jean Fisher said.

Steinemer hasn't been charged, but prosecutors in Elmore County, Idaho, have asked Florida to transfer him to Idaho so they can get their case in motion.

After the attack, the men let the woman go near a truck stop close to the Oregon border. She is expected to testify against them.

"We were extremely happy for the victim and her family because they have a sense of justice now," Johnson said.

Detectives wouldn't have been able to make an arrest if Florida hadn't taken a sample of Steinemer's DNA and sent it to a national database, they said. He is serving 18 months on a Volusia County drug-possession charge.

Steinemer's mother, Stori Holsopple-Kusak of Deltona, said she has bailed her son out of trouble more times than she can count. Once, she went to the hospital thinking she was going to identify his body after a drug overdose. He pulled through. She hired attorneys when he was charged with domestic violence against girlfriends, drug possession, prowling and probation violation.

Steinemer's problems started early. He flung open a door at Galaxy Middle School in Deltona and accidentally broke a teacher's arm, his mother said. He was sent to a residential program for adolescents with mental-health and drug problems and received anger-management counseling, she said.

Things got worse when Steinemer was about 16 and had a botched operation on his appendix. He became dependent on pain medication and never recovered, his mother said. His family tried to get him help as an adult, but he refused, she said. In between his legal troubles, Steinemer has worked as a roofer. He has two daughters, 1 and 3.

Steinemer implicated Holsopple, who was arrested Feb. 24 at a truck stop in Connecticut and was sent to an Idaho jail this week. Bail is set at $1 million.

Holsopple's DNA has been taken and will be made available to agencies nationwide to see if it matches evidence from open cases, Johnson said.

But Holsopple-Kusak said she can't imagine that her former husband, whom she met when they were teenagers growing up in Orlando, could have committed such a crime. He never showed signs of violence and has never been arrested before, she said.

Holsopple-Kusak also said her son told her the woman in Idaho asked for a ride to Daytona Beach, then changed her mind.

"I would hate this to be true about two people I've known all my life," Holsopple-Kusak said.

Father and son have different last names because another man initially was thought to be his dad, she said. However, Holsopple raised Steinemer and his sister, 27, who is Holsopple's daughter. She is devastated by the arrests, her mother said.